AAF: Battersea

AAF, or the Affordable Art Fair, took place in Battersea Park this weekend. There are two of these per year - the first took place this past fall at Hampstead Heath (my first time working at an art fair!) and the gallery I'm interning for set up shop at both. This fair was much more successful we were excited to say! I don't have any pictures from our booth (which was wonderful!) but I did snap a few pics of some of the pieces I really liked from other galleries...

I loved this because it reminded me of Dutch 17th-century still lives - when we're bombarded with so much modern art filled with televisions/lights/paint splatter/and such, its nice to know there are still artists who can really paint...and paint well.

The next work reminded me of French 19th century painting...there is a bit of the Degas Bathers about this picture, but then the green tint reminds me of the cover painting from the Les Bohemes exhibition (reviewed here!)...there's also a bit of of Picasso's The Absinthe Drinker about it. 

 This was just a really cool idea - a beach seen from an aerial view and desaturated to make the sand white - just a really neat concept (...wish I would have thought of it?!)

I thought this was really crazy because I'VE SEEN THAT SAME GRAFFITI IN LONDON! The "let's adore and endure each other" was something I saw when I was out with friends in East London - I took a picture of it and then started seeing it EVERYWHERE! Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought it was quite a poignant quote to put on the side of a building. (...see my picture below for comparison!)

 This was all comic strips...pretty rad.

and THESE were a reference to the French ceramics I've been studying - although not the same shapes as the plates, teapots, and saucers I've been pouring over, these figures are made from the same materials and processes...the decoration is definitely inspired by Sevres/Chelsea porcelain. 

and these were just plain awesome - can I have a pair to wear, please?!

here are some fun animals... (heads of these doggies are made out of handbags) 

and this was very pretty....probably a bit of Van Gogh influence? Incredible impasto and handling of the paint - look at the detail below! 

Last but not least, this man was amazing. Something very Haarlem-school 17th century Dutch about him...they were more likely to paint earthy peasants/old people/etc than the more "refined" style of Amsterdam painters like Rembrandt. Loved it. 

...and that is IT for now - I'm off to Italy this weekend and will be gone for a whole 2 weeks (Venice, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Vienna, Prague) and am not going to take my computer so this blog will be resting for the remainder of the month. See you in April!!